The Conference on "Dryland ecosystem functioning and resilience: integrating biophysical assessment with socio-economic issues" intends to relate a better understanding of the landscape-scale dynamics that lead to improvements in nutrient and water cycling, to their impacts on the climate sensitivity of desertification.

This new knowledge is set against the context of the complexity of increasing the resilience of dryland ecosystems particularly in relation to looming problems of food security and the expected costs and benefits to society of land degradation and sustainable land management respectively.

The conference intends to play an important role as a platform to elaborate scientific issues and make proposals to be presented at the forthcoming COP10 of the UNCCD Convention on combating desertification.

This conference is jointly organized by European Science Foundation, DesertNet International and NRD Desertification Research Group (University of Sassari).